I glance at the little beeping GPS tracker, and I can tell I’m getting closer. It’s not pinpoint accuracy, but it’s close enough. Eventually I track Vasili to the industrial part of town, and there’s only so many options for him to hold someone hostage.
Or murder someone...
I shake my head free of the thought. I saved her once from my own wrath, and now I’m going to save her from Vasili’s torturous little hands.
Finally I come upon the black sedan I was looking for, parked alongside an old warehouse, but across from another. It’s one of the two, but my bet is on Vasili being too lazy and stupid to take even the slightest bit of care in hiding his destination.
I pull to a stop down the road slowly, so I won’t be overheard approaching. Getting out of the car though, I nearly stumble. I’m lightheaded from the loss of blood, more so than I anticipated. It’ll be a tough time making up for it, but there’s no turning away from it now. Not when my girl’s life is on the line.
I do my best to focus myself, push away the daze, but it’s not something easily done. The light-headedness from blood loss isn’t a pain I can simply push past, it’s something at a base level, beyond my control. I can’t ignore it, because ignoring it lets it control me. Best I can do is try and compensate for it, take into consideration the way it affects my movements, the loss of focus.
Making my way to the door I try to keep my senses peeled. Vasili isn’t a mob boss, and the number of guys he had at the motel was big. It must’ve been every thug he had under his thumb, and maybe a few extra he paid for the occasion. Which likely meant it was just down to him and that one guy he has with him.
Two on one are not odds I’m afraid of, generally speaking. I take on much worse as usual business. But with my head like this, it’s a risk. A big one. And if I fuck this up, it’ll be both Alicia’s and my life.
I take out my gun, a little later than I should’ve, and check the clip. Only a few rounds, but more than enough to get this job on a regular day.
Approaching the door I stop and l peek in through a grated window to get the best view I can, but the grime on the glass makes it difficult. Still, I can see a bit of movement to the left hand side, and I’d bet it’s them.
Even through the glass, though, I can hear a high pitched scream, muffled by the building.
My heart pounds, but I try to calm myself down. That’s a good sign. It means she’s alive, if nothing else. Pain means living.
Life is pain.
And as the stabbing, throbbing pain in my arm attests, as long as you’re alive and feeling that pain, you can still fight.
I kick in the door and lift my gun, firing off an initial shot at one of the men. It misses. I never miss. The damn light-headedness is messing with me. I pop off another shot as the thug spins around to aim his own gun at me, and this time he goes down.
“Mikhail,” Alicia gasps, her poor body tied up to a bed frame, and I can see there’s blood on her clothes. I can’t focus on that. Right now, I just have to worry about keeping her safe.
“Fuck!” Vasili screams. I didn’t know who I was taking out at first, my vision not as clear as I’m used to like this. But I’d recognize that weasely voice anywhere, any time. “Don’t move or I’ll—” I pop off another shot that takes Vasili in the shoulder or arm, I can’t tell. He goes down all the same. I’m not going to play some pointless standoff with this prick, if I wimp out and don’t take the shot, he has all the control, and then Alicia and I are both dead.
I can’t finish him off at this angle, because the bed is obscuring my view and Alicia is in the line of fire now. So I have to advance on them.
My walk isn’t the usual intimidating stride, I’m wobbling a little, I realize, even if I can’t quite feel it. I’m not going to be able to keep up this fight much longer, my reaction times are horrible, my aim is off, and this guy — as awful as he is — will gain the advantage on me with time.
“Come out,” I bellow at him, my voice thankfully losing none of its aggressive growl, at least.
“Fuck you!” he says as he reaches an arm up over the foot of the bed to shoot at me. I fire first, but it misses. He fires.
A miss.
I fire again and hit his forearm, making him scream and curse as he flails away. Alicia is still tied to the bed, but I’m close enough now that I don’t need to worry about hitting her, even with my aim as off as it is.
“You’re over, snake,” I say, pointing my gun straight down at his face, his panicked expression, hair matted to his sweaty forehead undaunting me. I pull the trigger and…